Pure wayland terminal

R

rmomota

Hello there!

I'm thinking on changing my terminal, not because I'm unhappy with it or it doesn't fit my needs but because I'm looking for the best for wayland/wayfire without dragging thousands of code lines for X11 compatibility.
I was initially using xfce4-terminal when using X11 but then I switched to Alacritty.
But this one still drags X11 code with it and so I'm now switching again to Foot (Foo Terminal) which is 100% wayland ready code.
But this one has something I don't like that much, the server+client mode.
I can run it standalone and I can run a server then launch several lightweight clients 2.32 MB mem each instance against 75MB of the first xfce4-terminal instance.
I foot server is 52MB, still lower than xfce4-terminal.

I would like to know if there are better ones, what most people use in wayland.
 
SirDice said:
Note that most packages are built by default with both X11 and Wayland support.
Click to expand...
xwayland, right?
X11 is deprecated.
I somehow agree that there should be retro compatibility but that has to be a temporary product stage and not forever.
How much longer will apps be dragging legacy code?
 
this
techhut.tv

Wayland is Taking Over... Will 2026 Be The Death of X11? - TechHut

For years, Linux users have been experiencing the transition from X11 to Wayland. However, with GNOME 50 and KDE Plasma 6.8 both dropping support for X11, people are declaring the death of X11. But, is X11 actually dead, or will it remain around? With that, this article goes over the state of...
techhut.tv techhut.tv

and mostly this
discourse.gnome.org

Deprecated X11 backend

Hello Gnome, I have been told that the X11 backend has been deprecated and is to be removed in GTK 5. Not very long ago, applications launched with the GL rendering API by default. The default backend was then changed to Wayland, and the default rendering API to GLES. Does the deprecation of...
discourse.gnome.org discourse.gnome.org
 
sure it will not be gone if X11 developers/community keep writing code
the problem is there will be that day when all DE are no longer using it.

something like arcade gaming shops, all practically gone because no one's going there nowadays
PlayStation, Nintendo etc killed it
 
When I first started with FreeBSD ~30 years ago it was supposedly dead or dying. Guess what? We're still here. The same will true for X11.

rmomota said:
something like arcade gaming shops, all practically gone because no one's going there nowadays
Click to expand...
Why are there no video rentals any more? Why are a lot of brick-and-mortar stores closing? Is it because nobody buys those things any more? Or is there another reason? Arcades still exist, games still get made and sold.
 
rmomota said:
xwayland, right?
X11 is deprecated.
I somehow agree that there should be retro compatibility but that has to be a temporary product stage and not forever.
How much longer will apps be dragging legacy code?
Click to expand...
I think it's nonsense. Never used Wayland, though. Why can't it be just a program? Wanting to be native system-wide graphics screen isn't a commercial lobby? What's the practical advantage?

If you can play full-res video in X.org, what can Wayland still require that X doesn't have? It's the same graphics hardware. There's something wrong with this...
 
Whattteva said:
News to me. Round1 and Dave and Busters are thriving here in my neck of the woods. Round1 in particular, keeps opening new stores.
Click to expand...
good to know that's happening there
here in Portugal some cinemas in the mall have a arcade store attached to keep people busy while waiting for the session
the street ones are mostly gone, maybe I should move 😂
 
rmomota said:
Yes it must be, I'm not the one making the rules.
But I have an idea, maybe X11 is insecure?
Click to expand...
It could be the opposite. A graphics standard that allows low-level feedback of the screen content to something. It has to take over the primary display service to get there...
 
MG said:
It could be the opposite. A graphics standard that allows low-level feedback of the screen content to something. It has to take over the primary display service to get there...
Click to expand...
I don't think so
Recommended lecture
www.linuxteck.com

X11 vs Wayland in 2026: Key Differences, Performance & Future Explained

X11 vs Wayland explained — architecture differences, performance, security model, GPU support, and which display server your Linux distro should be running in 2026.
www.linuxteck.com www.linuxteck.com
"
X11 vs Wayland — The Shift Has Already Happened

X11 vs Wayland is not a debate about which technology is better in theory — it is a description of a transition that has already completed for most Linux desktop users. If you run Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, openSUSE, or any system with a current GNOME or KDE Plasma desktop, you are almost certainly running Wayland right now. The protocol that replaced X11 is not a future plan. It is your current session.

X11 is not a failed technology. It solved the problems it was built to solve, and it served Linux desktops for forty years. The architectural limitations that make it unsuitable for 2026 — the absence of app isolation, the inefficient render pipeline, the inability to handle modern display standards cleanly — were not failures of design. They were consequences of building in 1984 for a world that no longer exists. For a broader view of where Linux is heading, our Linux quick start guide 2026 and open-source automation tools 2026 cover the current state of the ecosystem in depth.

The practical question for 2026 is not whether to switch to Wayland — it is whether your specific workflow has any remaining hard dependency on X11. For the vast majority of users, it does not. Run echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE right now. The answer is probably already wayland. If it is, you are running a faster, safer, and more capable display system than anything X11 could provide — without having changed a single setting.
"
 
rmomota said:
I don't think so
Recommended lecture
www.linuxteck.com

X11 vs Wayland in 2026: Key Differences, Performance & Future Explained

X11 vs Wayland explained — architecture differences, performance, security model, GPU support, and which display server your Linux distro should be running in 2026.
www.linuxteck.com www.linuxteck.com
"
X11 vs Wayland — The Shift Has Already Happened

X11 vs Wayland is not a debate about which technology is better in theory — it is a description of a transition that has already completed for most Linux desktop users. If you run Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, openSUSE, or any system with a current GNOME or KDE Plasma desktop, you are almost certainly running Wayland right now. The protocol that replaced X11 is not a future plan. It is your current session.

X11 is not a failed technology. It solved the problems it was built to solve, and it served Linux desktops for forty years. The architectural limitations that make it unsuitable for 2026 — the absence of app isolation, the inefficient render pipeline, the inability to handle modern display standards cleanly — were not failures of design. They were consequences of building in 1984 for a world that no longer exists. For a broader view of where Linux is heading, our Linux quick start guide 2026 and open-source automation tools 2026 cover the current state of the ecosystem in depth.

The practical question for 2026 is not whether to switch to Wayland — it is whether your specific workflow has any remaining hard dependency on X11. For the vast majority of users, it does not. Run echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE right now. The answer is probably already wayland. If it is, you are running a faster, safer, and more capable display system than anything X11 could provide — without having changed a single setting.
"
Click to expand...
Why switch anything? I can start X.org, break it and start something else. Wayland trying to be the only presence is a red flag. It can be an independent program, like an X-server. No need for separation. X.org, Wayland or any other graphical environment are options and not bound to a permanent system state that's decided at booting up.
 
rmomota if you pay attention to who is saying that x11 is dead, who is spearheading wayland development and which DE's are removing X11support (gnome first, kde starting with 6.8 because they like to follow the steps of gnome) there's a common name that appears, Red Hat.

In any case, X11 is far from dead, besides Xorg, there's also XLibre (don't buy the right-wing narrative on this, validate then make your decisions) plus at least two other x11 implementations that are making the news rounds lately.

Wayland, if your hardware and your workflow supports it, nowadays is a good choice, except if:
  • You need framebuffer based graphical sessions on FreeBSD (wayland has an hard requirement on linux drm compatibility)
  • You need to run older (or newer depending on the arch) graphics cards that are not supported by the currently supported drivers
  • You need to use accessibility tools
Anyway, I'm assuming you are using (or want to use) FreeBSD because it lets you in control of your tech stack. Exercise that control :)

As for your original question, like loveydovey said, if you don't want something with X11 support just compile the port without the support. I'm on the other side of the spectrum, I don't particullarly like to have the wayland bits on the other hand I don't care enough to recompile stuff to specifically remove it :P

Regarding the arcade bit: https://allgames.pt/ have fun ;)
 
MacOS is based in BSD and it uses WindowServer that is similar to Wayland in terms of graphics rendering.
There's a clear performance gain by avoiding Xorg way of doing that.
But that's me having the control of my tech stack, right?
 
rmomota said:
this
techhut.tv

Wayland is Taking Over... Will 2026 Be The Death of X11? - TechHut

For years, Linux users have been experiencing the transition from X11 to Wayland. However, with GNOME 50 and KDE Plasma 6.8 both dropping support for X11, people are declaring the death of X11. But, is X11 actually dead, or will it remain around? With that, this article goes over the state of...
techhut.tv techhut.tv

and mostly this
discourse.gnome.org

Deprecated X11 backend

Hello Gnome, I have been told that the X11 backend has been deprecated and is to be removed in GTK 5. Not very long ago, applications launched with the GL rendering API by default. The default backend was then changed to Wayland, and the default rendering API to GLES. Does the deprecation of...
discourse.gnome.org discourse.gnome.org
Click to expand...
XLIBRE is the way!
https://github.com/b-aaz/xlibre-ports
 
rmomota said:
MacOS is based in BSD and it uses WindowServer that is similar to Wayland in terms of graphics rendering.
There's a clear performance gain by avoiding Xorg way of doing that.
But that's me having the control of my tech stack, right?
Click to expand...
sure, go for it. just avoid the pitfall of comparing the direct scan out mode that most current wayland DEs and apps use against composited X11 stacks. As long as you have done your due deligence and are having fun why not. I suggest taking a look at Arcan if you are interested on wayland.

:)
 
Imagine a fragmented ecosystem, dropping a standard interface/API, for another ecosystem of fragmentation. Once there's an excess of Wayland compositors all doing the same s**t differently, and developers start complaining; they'll conjure up another broken solution to try to fix the brokenness. The GNU/Linux wild west all over again.

...Or they could've just fixed X.org.

Linux anti-patterns - the gift that keeps on giving.
 
Beastie7 said:
Imagine a fragmented ecosystem, dropping a standard interface/API, for another ecosystem of fragmentation. Once there's an excess of Wayland compositors all doing the same s**t differently, and developers start complaining; they'll conjure up another broken solution to try to fix the brokenness. The GNU/Linux wild west all over again.

...Or they could've just fixed X.org.

Linux anti-patterns - the gift that keeps on giving.
Click to expand...
True.
What I know about it (not much), having Wayland means trouble determining active windows/monitors and their positions (windows, not monitors :] ).
Age of 'on the fly', ad hoc UI painted on canvas by Ai is coming soon. Window managers will be obsolete and/or hindrance if they can't report positions to the agent.

xlibre - x11 fork with (security) improvements has much better chance to welcome the Ai age. And it is coming. Because normal users are not thrilled about studying burger menu options and switching from Internet browser. Back, Forward, Home, Play, Pause, Stop, Volume Up/Down is all they want, need and are able to digest.

I use GIMP once a year when I want to make GIF out of series of captured frames. I follow step by step web tutorial. Ai can do it by itself just by telling it and not even needing GIMP (just gets or makes some tools in python). Many such cases.
 
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